First Look at Nintendo Switch

For years, I used to think about how great it would be to have the ability to take the games I played at home and take them on the road with me instantly. Nintendo not only figured this out but added an easy multi-player mode to it.

Nintendo Switch is a pretty cool idea and it might be enough to bring this gamer back to the Nintendo fold. Well, this and the new Pokemon game.

8-Bit Art: 3D Pokemon House Project

Unfortunately Canada Post is in the middle of a contract negotiation and there is a possibly now of postal strike as soon as Friday. This possible strike has left me no choice but to put my Etsy store, Pixelized Creations on vacation mode until the issue is resolved and I know for sure my packages can go out without fear of them getting stuck in transit.

This has left me though with tons of time to work on new fused bead art projects, so I decided to enter a contest on instagram where you had to make a fused bead art piece with a Pokemon theme. I decided to make a little scene with Ash and Pikachu fighting another trainer with their pokemon. Then it escalated into a bigger piece with a house, plants etc. And then I decided to make the house 3D. I had to play around with a couple different concepts before I got the piece to finally fit.

The final project I think turned out pretty darn good though. It is made completely from perler/hama beads and a little bit of e6000 glue. I used only black, white, grey, dark grey and hama brand's translucent grey colour. Not sure how many beads I used total but I know I went through 3.5 bags of grey beads roughly which is 3500 beads.

The patterns I got mostly from the Pokemon Red/Blue game though I had to come up with the garden soil and side/back of the house patterns on my own. The 3D house pattern is completely my own design too.

I will plan to sell this when the postal strike is over with. I am not sure about the pricing but I will let people know if they are interested in purchasing it now. I can always look into other couriers for this like FedEx or UPS.

I will update everyone when my store reopens. Pixelized Creations

8-Bit Art: Legend of Zelda Master Sword and Hyrulian Shield Cake Topper

I have always been a huge Legend of Zelda fan and recently I came up with an awesome idea for a cake topper.

I took a Master Sword and Hyrule Shield fuse bead piece set I already had and placed them on top of a cake in a great way. It looked awesome.

This cake topper set is made from plastic, non-toxic, food safe perler beads.

The sword is 7.5 inches long and 3.25 inches at the hilt. The shield is 4.5 inches tall and 4 inches wide.

The cake topper set sells for $12 Canadian plus shipping via my Etsy shop.

Check out Pixelized Creations for more cool cake toppers and other great pixel art.

Happy Friday the 13th!

A little retro throwback to celebrate Friday the 13th. My fused bead creation, Jason from the Nintendo NES game, Friday the 13th. I made him with colours from the movies rather than the game though.


And speaking of Friday the 13th games, yesterday the kickstarter project, Friday the 13th game hit its target goal of $700,000. This multiple player game which is being created by Gun Media will allow you to play as Jason Voorhees for the first time ever and have you stalking the camp counselors of Camp Crystal Lake. Or you can play as one of camp counselors as they attempt to survive the night.

This project sees the return of Tom Savini, the makeup mastermind behind the look of the original Jason in Friday the 13th series and Kane Hodder, probably the best actor behind the mask in the series.

There is still 14 hours to go on this kickstarter project if you want to grab a perk while they are still available. Head over to their kickstarter page to check out all the perks which range from $5 to $10,000.

 

Club Nintendo: Elite Member Rewards Announced

Any one who is a Nintendo fan must be a member of Club Nintendo, otherwise you are just wasting all your hardcore love for the Big N when you could be getting some love in return.

Club Nintendo is a website that rewards member with items when they enter codes found in first party Nintendo games (Nintendo Wii, Wii-ware and Nintendo DS titles) and spend time answering questionnaires about those games. From these codes and questionnaires, you will be given certain amount of coins which will built up over time and can then be used to buy rewards from the Club Nintendo store. I have personally purchased a cool Legend of Zelda poster set and am now saving up for Nintendo Hanafuda Cards.

On top of the rewards you trade in coins for, members are also given rewards for achieving either Gold or Platinum status within club year by reaching certain coin amounts (coins traded in throughout the club year still count towards the elite status total in the end).

Club Nintendo just announced the new Gold and Platinum rewards for this year and they are pretty cool. Gold members who earned 300 coins this year will be receiving a 2011 calender filled with custom Nintendo artwork. The picture seen here is artwork from last year's calender. They haven't posted the new 2011 calender artwork yet.

Platinum members who earned 600 coins this year will be receiving a Mario and friends statue which features various Super Mario Bros. characters like Mario, Bowser, Princess Peach and more.

Things I Got Excited About: Nintendo Conference Edition

Video Games | Zelda: Skyward Sword | E3 2010: Debut Trailer (Stream)

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

So this morning it was Nintendo's turn to bring the fire to the stage and boy, were we surprised. I'm honestly started to think that Nintendo is playing a game of cat and mouse with their competition. "Okay, now that everyone's on board with casual games and motion control, we bring back core games!!!" BOO YAH BITCHES!

Nintendo opened the show with a brand new Legend of Zelda game, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword which feature wii motion plus controls. The demo on stage was awful and full of problems but they swore it was connectivity problems and not the game. Hands-on previews from the show floor will hopefully tell a better story. The game looks like an awesome combination of Twilight Princess and Windwaker.

Then they got into the casual stuff with games like Mario Sports Mix which is chalked full of mini sporting events and Wii Party which is another mini game party game. Just Dance 2 was also announced ... okay, boring stuff aside now. On to the good stuff!

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn was mentioned again for the Nintendo DS and this time we got to see some gameplay. They showed off Metroid: Other M as well. Stuff we all knew was coming but they didn't bring up Pikmin 3 which would have been nice.

Video Games | Epic Mickey | E3 2010: Debut Live Demo (Stream)

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Epic Mickey for the Nintendo Wii was brought out for demo play and it looked amazing. The game included 3D open levels as well as side-scrolling levels. Many of your favorite well known Disney characters will be in the game from Mickey cartoons to Peter Pan to a few forgotten characters.

Nintendo has brought back a few familiar franchise this year with Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Nintendo Wii, Golden Eye for the Wii (Remake), Kirby: Epic Yarn for the Wii, and finally Kid Icarus for the Nintendo 3DS. Yes, they love their core gamers again.

Video Games | Nintendo 3DS | E3 2010: Live Demo Part I (Stream)

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

At the end of the show, they revealed the Nintendo 3DS which is the new 3D handheld gaming system. While I am not overly excited for this device, I must admit it sounds pretty cool. The system is 3D without the use of glasses. It can play 3D movies and games plus take 3D pictures. They redesigned the interface to include a new analog stick instead of d-pad.

Video Games | Nintendo 3DS | E3 2010: Live Demo Part II (Stream)

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Time will only tell if this thing will redefine gaming - hell, Nintendo tricked everyone else into creating motion controllers, so why not 3D gaming?

Holiday Review Guide: Part 2 - Nintendo DS Games

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
Nintendo, Level- 5
Available for Nintendo DS

Professor Layton and his assistant, Luke are back in Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, the sequel to the highly successful adventure puzzle game, Professor Layton and the Curious Village. After a close friend of the Professor is killed by apparently the curse of the mysterious Elysian Box, the dynamic duo board a train in order to solve the murder and prove the box’s curse is not behind it.

Full of grand new puzzles and tons of new locations to explore, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box not only matches the fun and challenge of the first game, it surpasses it. I will note this is a fairly challenging game and though it’s age rating 10 and up, its harder puzzles might be too difficult for anyone below a high school level. Puzzle and adventure genre fans will love this series and I highly recommend picking up this title and the first if you haven’t already.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Buy it!

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios
Available for the Nintendo DS

Fans have been waiting a long time for a Kingdom Hearts II sequel and well, they just have to keep waiting because the newest title in the series, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days is an inter-sequel, a game which takes place between the events of Kingdom Hearts: Chains of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II. This time the game focuses on Roxas and all his time spend with the organization leading up to the starting events of Kingdom Hearts II.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days’ control system is easy to use – no silly stylus controls to confuse things and the story line really gives you a chance to discover more background info on Roxas and the organization. While I would prefer to see Kingdom Hearts III out on store shelves, as long as Square Enix is shipping some sort of Kingdom Heart title, I guess I can’t complain. Overall, this isn’t the most action packed Kingdom Hearts game in the series but this game is better than no game.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Rent it!

Scribblenauts
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, 5th Cell
Available for Nintendo DS

Most games are what the developers make it but with the newest title from 5th Cell and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Scribblenauts is what you make it. Imagine being able to write any word down and having that object appear – well, that’s the concept behind Scribblenauts. Each puzzle in the game gives you an endless stream of possibilities on how to solve them and all from just writing a single word.

The entertainment value alone comes from the endless fun you can have from seeing what objects you can find in the game’s built-in dictionary but the game itself needs some work before it can live up to its original design promise. The controls were a bit off and the instructions in some of the puzzles were a bit unclear making puzzle completion impossible. Overall, this game’s unique concept had huge potential but certain failed elements need to be fixed before this game can truly be successful.

Rating: 5 out of 10
Pass on it!

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
Nintendo, AlphaDream
Available for the Nintendo DS

In Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, the Mushroom Kingdom is in trouble again and only the Mario Brothers can bring peace back to the Kingdom with the help of Bowser ... wait, what? Yep, that’s right. After a Fawful, the new bad guy in the Mushroom Kingdom infects the inhabitants with a horrible disease and causes Bowser to swallow the Mario Brothers, the Princess and their friends whole, it’s up to Bowser and the Brothers to work together to stop Fawful from taking over the entire kingdom.

Fans of the brothers will love this cute throwback to the old RPG Mario series with fabulous new graphics, hilarious voice-overs and tons of sweet Mario action. You’ll be able to take control of both the Brothers and Bowser in a neat duel screen system and explore the inner workings of one of gaming history’s most famous villains, Bowser. Trust me when I say Super Mario Bros. Wii won’t be the only Mario game selling like hotcakes this Holiday season.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Buy it!

Review: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Nintendo
Available for Nintendo Wii

If you’ve never played a 2D Mario game from the early days of Nintendo, then you probably won’t understand the huge draw for retro gamers to the newest Mario Bros. game on the Nintendo Wii. While Mario’s 3D adventures have been satisfying they never held the same pleasures and challenges that the old 2D side-scrollers did on the NES and SNES. Jumping into the New Super Mario Bros. Wii is like curling up on the couch with your favourite author’s newest book after they stopped writing for 10 years – nothing could be more surprising and comforting at the same time.

If you do know what I’m talking about, then imagine if you took the best elements from Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros. 3, added in some new Wii graphics, controls and a few additional power-ups, and then threw them into a blender to mix - the final product would be the New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Since the days of the SNES, Mario’s adventures just haven’t been the same and thought we’ve had the New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS to tide us 2D lovers over, having Mario on the big screen moving left to right again is so old school, I could bust out the neon leg warms and the New Kids on the Block tapes.


For the retro gamer, NSMBW brings back sweet elements from Super Mario Bros. 3 like the Mushroom houses, the over-world themed maps, the Koopa Kids and the hidden warp points. We also get elements from Super Mario World like riding Mario’s buddy Yoshi again and collecting special coins from each level. Of course to avoid the same old, same old, new elements have been added into the game like special Wii-mote controls, new power-ups, up-dated graphics and 4 player co-op or versus play. Some of these new elements make the game better while others could have been left on the cutting room floor.
The Wii controls, for example, were a bad idea as the game difficulty only increases as you fumble to shake the remote and hold two buttons down together in order to hold objects and run at the same time. Whatever happened to simple pressing down and pressing one button to hold objects? That was easy – this new control scheme makes me feel like I’m having a damn seizure rather than playing a simple Mario game. This also makes it darn near impossible to save the hidden Toads in each world because you can’t run, hold, shake and jump, all at the same time. Whoever designed this control scheme must have a sixth finger – perhaps he’s the six-fingered man from the Princess Bride and that would explain why he made an impossibly, cruel control setup for us five-fingered people.

The multiplayer mode was a great idea but the character roster choices weren’t as it always leaves two players with the no name Toad characters instead of a cool character like Mario or Luigi. The roster would have been better with Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Peach like Super Mario Bros. 2 had, plus Nintendo could have broken the whole “Princess Peach is a helpless girl that can’t stay safe for more than 5 seconds” thing for the second time since the 80s. Its 2010 and the Princess has to learn to kick Bowser’s butt sooner or later.

This is definitely a challenging and fun game. Each level holds tons of nostalgia for the retro gamer but also brings some cool new elements into play like tilting see-saws controlled by the Wii remote and levels completely full of giant flying beasts for Mario to run on top of. Overall, the level design is on par with the original Super Mario Bros. 3 but with better graphics.


The music in this game is so cute and whimsical. The enemies actually bust a move at a key point in the music which is such a great little detail in the game. There are a lot of retro sounds throughout the game and if you managed to hit the end of stage marker at a specific time, you’ll get to hear the original Mario Bros. song play. Some sound effects like 1-ups and voice-overs come through the Wii-remote speaker make the player more aware of events in the game.
The graphics are extremely up-dated in comparison to the old 2D games with new chunky 3D/2D polygonal characters and layered and scrolling backgrounds. The Mario world is bright and colourful, full of life and each world out does the last with such cool themed levels.

I can’t say this isn’t the best Mario game I’ve ever played but I enjoy every minute I played it, and I’m happy to see Nintendo going to back to their roots and giving a little something back to their core gamers especially since we’ve politely suffered through all these fitness games. The New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a clear winner for all Mario fans as it has plenty of challenge and fun for everyone new and old to the series. I highly suggest you grab a copy, if you can find one.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Buy it!

Rip Off Alert: Half Life Box Art

I found this Half Life box art today on Bit Mob linked from a site called VG Box Art.com, but funny thing is ... I've seen this before. My friend, Arcade Art made a couple of Half Life NES bead sets a while back and along with them she designed box art for the original NES.

This box art design is composed almost completely of her original sprites and even her original box art concept. And though the artist, Grand on VGBoxArt.com mentions he saw bead sprites for Half Life, he doesn't link to Arcade Art's original work and the way he phrases his description of the box, it sounds like he made everything.

Saw some Half-Life bead sprites, so I went ahead and made a sprite of Gordon Freeman & a headcrab. Made the 'black box' NES template from the ground up, and I created the screenshots myself.

I'm happy with the result and I'll definitely keep on doing these retro boxes.

Overall, most artists don't mind people using their original work but for God's sake, give them credit for it if you don't ask for permission. This guy is getting all the credit for Arcade's hard work on the picture design & sprites and that's not fair.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Legend of Zelda: Spirit Track is finally out on store shelves and Nintendo had decided to advertise it with the creepiest advertising campaign ever. This is the extended version of the commercial found on television currently.

Epic 8-Bit Bead Art: Fire Wall

Fire Wall (8-Bit & Beyond), originally uploaded by Doctor Octoroc.

Another Doctor Octoroc original!

A custom, framed, solid bead sprite depicting an RPG style battle between Nintendo's three main mascots (Samus, Link and Mario) and a giant XBox 360 posessed by the head of Microsoft's Bill Gates. This scene parallels the battle with the Evil Wall in Final Fantasy 4 for SNES.

Final piece can be seen at the 8-Bit and Beyond art show at Brave New World comics on 2nd St. in Philadelpia on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 6pm.

Epic 8-Bit Bead Art: Princess Zelda is Friggn' Gorgeous

Okay, so maybe I'm getting a bit carried away by my title statement but this has to be one of the best Zelda custom sprites I have ever seen.

Now the original sprites was created my master sprite creator, Abyss Wolf, who's wonderful artwork can also be found on Deviant Art, but the final bead project that you see above was created by my favorite snack lover, Xstatic.

Xstatic unfortunately doesn't have any websites that I know of, so just check out her stuff here at the Pixelgasm Forums.

E3 2009: Super Mario Galaxy 2 & Metroid: Other M Trailers

I posted these yesterday as they happened but Nintendo has finally released full screen and better quality trailers for Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 for Nintendo Wii

Metroid: Other M for Nintendo Wii

E3 2009: New Super Mario Bros. Wii Trailer

I recently I purchased up Super Mario Bros. 1, 2 & 3 for my old Nintendo system and despite their age, the games are still fun. After watching this trailer for the New Super Mario Bros. Wii, I know that this game will be just as fun too because it has all the same great elements that those games did and honestly, who says you have to play with others?

E3 2009: New Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks Trailer

Legend of Zelda: Spirit Track was announced early in the year for the Nintendo DS but Nintendo still had a new trailer to bring along to the E3 conference.

Little Gamer's Nursery Covered in Yoshi's Island Theme

Why couldn't my sister have done something cool like this for her baby's room?

Well, if everyone doesn't know by now, I'm about to become an aunt again for the second time. My sister is ready to pop any day now with my second nephew who will hopefully become a little gamer in training like my current nephew who loves Mario Kart on the Gamecube.


Unfortunately my sister is not a gamer geek like me, so she decorated the baby's room in a cute zoo animal theme which is fine but I personally love what flickr user, Meadsblog did with their baby nursery. The entire nursery was decorated in a Yoshi's Island theme complete with Yoshi's eggs, Baby Mario/Yoshi and Baby Peach/Yoshi decals on the walls, and tons of framed artwork from the game.

If I had my choice, I would probably good with a Mario themed bedroom for my kid's room too or a Legend of Zelda theme.

Epic 8 bit Bead Art - Half Life on the NES

Half-Life Set - 8-bit Retroactive, originally uploaded by Arcade Art.

So what if the Half Life series had started on the original NES system instead of the PC? Well, Arcade Artist and Infinity Wave believe the game would have looked a little something like this.

This cool little art set is created with fused plastic beads and contains a Gordon Freeman, G-man and lab coat headcrab zombie bead sprite. It also comes with a collectible card featuring the "what could have been" NES box art for this Half Life game.

You can purchase this set at Arcade Artist's Etsy Store for $20 plus shipping or check out more of Arcade Artist's work on his flickr page.

Epic 8 bit Bead Art - Super Mario Bros. 3 Title Screen

SM3 Title Screen, originally uploaded by silvercityshane.

While I am slowly working on my own epic project in the background of my bead workshop (soon ....), this week I'm showcasing another one of my fellow bead spriter's epic art pieces finally complete after a long search for the perfect background.

Silvercity Shane decided to create the entire title screen from Super Mario Bros. 3 from beads but instead of wasting money on thousands and thousands of peach beads, he decided to just create all the objects in the pictures from the words to the floor tiles and then fasten them all to a large piece of wood painted peach.

The finished project looks amazing and I salute him on a job well done. I personally would love to hang that baby in my house but I'm sure he already has a few places picked out for it.

Big Mystery Solved: New Pokemon Game!

Cheeky little monkeys. Got my finally email today from Nintendo and yes, it was a new Pokemon game that they revealed. Pokemon Platinum!

Now this type of game I can get behind and play. Just not those Mystery Dungeon gamesas those were terrible.

2007 Brought ... Another Email from Nintendo?

Nintendo sent me another email today with only a subject line: 2007 brought and this image. Nothing more than that. This must be a new Pokemon game coming out.